MPs’ recess shows how little dialogue goes on normally – and we’re all the poorer for it
Parliament was on one of its many breaks this week, although some news still emerged from a sleepy Westminster.
Boris Johnson popped up to provide some light relief and a smidgen of Brexit policy hints, while Jeremy Corbyn was the subject of two high profile stories – an expose of his historical Soviet connections and an interview in which he discussed the cost of a chocolate bar and revealed he didn’t understand why Piers Morgan gave Donald Trump a number 45 football shirt.
Reaction to these stories falls, predictably, along the main political dividing lines of today. Depending on whether you were a Remainer or a Leaver, Boris was either a breath-taking hypocrite talking nonsense or a white knight delivering a much-needed air of optimism. And your party allegiance would determine whether Corbyn was a Soviet shill who’s too dim to know how many Presidents there have been, or a man of the people who doesn’t take himself too seriously. Few opinions will have changed this week, and no voting behaviour will either.
But the weakness of our current democratic dialogue is not just apparent in the social media bubbles we construct around us. Boris may have pitched his speech as healing the divisions, but in reality it reinforced them, and that is what we see every week in Westminster: at every Prime Minister’s Questions, on every panel show and in every political appearance.
Theresa May is so constricted by her vulnerable majority, her divided party and her own crippling caution that she is not able to engage meaningfully with either the opposition or the electorate.
Corbyn, meanwhile, is not interested in engaging. That much is clear by his glib, repetitive statements, designed not to further our national debate but to form shareable videos that go viral among those who already follow his every word.
Being in politics should not just be about getting votes by any means. Without challenging the government on the issues of the day – and Brexit is the elephant in the room whenever the pair lock horns – we are all the poorer for it. Shallow communication strategies and soundbites beget more of the same: what they don’t do is force the government to up its game.
The country is being badly served, both by those in power and the opposition, in their refusal to engage and their reluctance, or inability, to lead. The sound and fury signifies nothing more than their ability to preach to the choir.
They say absence makes the heart grow fonder, but all this parliamentary recess has done is underline how little progress is made when MPs are in session.
If we want to move forward – on Brexit, or any other issue – both sides need to up their game, reach out beyond their base and rediscover the politics of persuasion.